Simplicity can be deceptive.

It's sometimes more difficult to get a simple tune to sound great than a complex one.

And I do know a number of jam bands that don't rehearse - and they sound like it.

Even if you are doing group improvisation, you need to have the groundwork done, and that takes rehearsal. You also need to learn to feel the other players in your band, so when doing group improv you support each other instead of just fight with each other.

I'm lucky that I'm in a duo with my wife.

When I met her, she was playing in a different band. Both our bands broke up and we ended up in a 5 piece band together. Plenty of personnel problems, much like the ones described in this thread. Leilani and I have very intense work ethics, so after the proverbial straw broke the camel's back, we decided to go duo. I bought an Atari/ST computer and some synths and started making my own backing tracks.

Thankfully I studied arranging in school.

Now we have no personnel problems, we work hard, and on stage we play hard, and we have fewer people to split the money up with.

There are disadvantages of course, but I think the advantages far outweigh them.

Insights and incites by Notes

Bob "Notes" Norton smile Norton Music
https://www.nortonmusic.com

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